Two dead and at least 300,000 residents of New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania are without power after another powerful storm ripped through the states Thursday. Meanwhile, more than 60 percent of the U.S. battles an extreme drought threatening to raise food prices and a massive wildfire left Colorado with burn scars visible from space.
Although we’ve all experienced severe thunderstorms and stints with lack of rain, this has been a summer of extremities. Climate scientists called this most recent storm, and the one in late June that left millions of Mid-Atlantic residents without power, a derecho. This powerful storm should occuronce approximately every four years. We’ve already had two within a month, both with rare severity and damage.
Although our earth is prone to natural variances, we’re witnessing more of these individual events all of which are part of a larger trend. Although extreme weather can be driven by a variety of factors, global warming has set the table for these kind of damaging weather events.
However, it’s not too late to do something before we’re completely at the mercy of dangerous elements. Greenpeace ships are deep in the Arctic seas now, collecting evidence on melting ice caps and raising awareness on the threat of Shell drilling for an inconsequential amount of oil in this critical ecosystem.
Learn more about what they’re finding and take action with us.
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